Sanctions in N. Korea hurt aid groups

Wednesday

May 29, 2013 at 12:01 AMMay 29, 2013 at 1:00 PM

PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — New international sanctions aimed at thwarting North Korea's nuclear weapons program are having unintended consequences: halting money transfers by foreign humanitarian groups working to help those most in need and forcing some agencies to carry suitcases of cash in from outside.

At the same time, some restrictions are meant to sting the country's elite by crippling the import of luxury goods such as yachts, fancy cars and jewelry. But they do not appear to be stopping the well-heeled from living large in the capital, Pyongyang.

Much of the aid group difficulties are linked to the state-run Bank of China's decision earlier this month to follow Washington's lead and sever ties with the North's Foreign Trade Bank, the main money transfer route for most foreign organizations, U.N. agencies and embassies in Pyongyang. With that line cut, aid workers in North Korea say they are left with few other options to receive foreign currency for expenses including rent, bills and salaries for local staff.

The sanctions are not supposed to affect humanitarian aid, but six Pyongyang-based aid organizations headquartered in Europe issued a communique earlier this month spelling out their frustrations and calling the difficulties in transferring money to North Korea a "big problem." They warned they might be forced to suspend their operations if they cannot find ways to access cash. A handful of American non-governmental organizations also work in North Korea, but they cycle in and out and do not maintain a permanent presence.

Gerhard Uhrmacher, program manager for German humanitarian aid organization Welthungerhilfe, said when recent bank transfers failed, he managed to keep projects running by routing $643,000 to Chinese or North Korean accounts in China to pay for building supplies and other goods.

He said Welthungerhilfe, which signed the communique and works on agriculture and rural development projects in North Korea, has some reserves in Pyongyang but must also resort to carrying cash into the country by hand.

"It doesn't give a good impression. We're trying to be transparent, to be open to all sides, and now we're more or less forced to do something that doesn't really look very proper because people who carry a lot of cash are somehow suspect," said Uhrmacher, who is based in Germany and has worked in North Korea for the past 10 years.

Some analysts said aid groups were simply "collateral damage" and that they will find a way to work around the sanctions, as they have been forced to do in other countries. Others said the poorest North Koreans would be hurt if some humanitarian groups have to pull out of the country. The aid groups work on a range of issues from food security to improving health and assisting with disabilities.

Aid groups "may not provide as much support as governments, but they have the ability to reach the deep corners of the impoverished North, where people are in most need," said Woo Seongji, a professor of international relations at Kyung Hee University in Seoul. "Their help is both symbolic and substantial. It reaches kids, hospitals and food shelters that outside governments may not be able to support consistently because of political considerations."

The latest sanctions have added challenges to the already difficult system of getting money into North Korea since ally China has restrictions on how much foreign currency can be legally taken beyond its borders.

Sanctions and trade embargoes have long been used by the international community to put an economic squeeze on troublesome regimes from Iraq and Myanmar to Cuba. But they are a blunt tool that can unintentionally add to the suffering of people living under oppressive rule by hindering development and the delivery of aid.

"We are concerned regarding possible unintended effects of certain sanctions, in particular with regard to humanitarian assistance, and stress the need to overcome these unintended effects," said Maja Kocijancic, spokeswoman for EU foreign policy head Catherine Ashton.

The U.S. Treasury Department hit the North Korea with sanctions in March, effectively cutting it off from the U.S. financial system after accusing the country's main foreign exchange institution of funding Pyongyang's missile and nuclear programs. The U.N. responded to that move by slapping Pyongyang with its toughest-ever sanctions.

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